are goalkeepers better now then they've ever been?

there's been some exceptional keepers in the past , shilton, seaman, schemichael , banks, yashin etc

but are the current crop the best there has ever been?

lets look at the some of the best in the world now

pepe reina - how he's not spain no.1 ill never know

iker casillas - played for real madrid year after year getting ever better

edwin van der sar - man utd keeper the best in the premier alongside pepe reina

julio cesar - brazillian international - possibly the best keeper they have had in years

honourable mentions to friedel, buffon,jaaskelainen,cech,foster, lloris,manadanda, frey, valdes , muslera ,de gea, neuer

Best keepers in the world now are Riena, Casillas, Van Der Sar, Lloris, Neuer, Cech and Cesar.

De Gea is also showing that he can be world class

Soldier_Of _Fortune wrote:Best keepers in the world now are Riena, Casillas, Van Der Sar, Lloris, Neuer, Cech and Cesar.

De Gea is also showing that he can be world class

but are they the best crop of goalkeepers there's ever been?

fernando wrote:honourable llorimentions to friedel, buffon,jaaskelainen,cech,foster, s,manadanda, frey, valdes , muslera ,de gea, neuer

Putting Buffon in that category is an insult to probably the best goalkeeper of his generation.

I'm only 26 and don't remember so many top keepers being around at one time and at all different stages of their career.

England had some pretty great keepers in the 90s, Woods, Seaman, Martyn, Flowers add to that the likes of Barthez Schmicheal, Peruzzi, Zenga, Khan Goram, Bosnich and Van Der Sar

I think they are, yea. They are certainly more well rounded now anyway, with the best being able to command there box, quickly setup their teams on the counter, act as a sweeper behind the defence and be more than capable with both feet. There wasn't many gks that had all that to the armory 15-20 years, except for the Great Dane of course, who was years ahead of his time anyhow. Now, all the those attributes are expected of a top class goalkeeper.

Is another question - are strikers worse than they used to be? Or are less shots getting in as players are trying to win set piece free kicks and force yellow cards.

Allan McGregor's the best keeper about right now!

fernando wrote:there's been some exceptional keepers in the past , shilton, seaman, schemichael , banks, yashin etc

but are the current crop the best there has ever been?

lets look at the some of the best in the world now

pepe reina - how he's not spain no.1 ill never know

iker casillas - played for real madrid year after year getting ever better

edwin van der sar - man utd keeper the best in the premier alongside pepe reina

julio cesar - brazillian international - possibly the best keeper they have had in years

honourable mentions to friedel, buffon,jaaskelainen,cech,foster, lloris,manadanda, frey, valdes , muslera ,de gea, neuer

you've just answered why reinas not spains no.1. Think casillas has to be the best at the moment

Theres certainly alot more top top keepers in british football around now than ever before just a pity england havent really got a world class keeper. Casillas, Reina, McGregor, Gordon, Van Der Sar, Neuer, Cech, Lloris, De Gea, Cesar, Valdes, Given and maybe even Freidel are better than englands choices of Hart, Foster, Green etc

There are a number of exceptional keepers at the moment, and I suppose in part they have a tougher job than previously because of the advance in ball technology.

I don't think this is a particularly 'golden' generation though - there always seem to be a list as long as your arm of top quality operators in goal.

Thinking about it, who would you list as the best goalkeeper pound-for-pound (to borrow a boxing phrase) of all time?

I would think candidates like Banks, Yashin, Zoff, Schmeichel and Buffon could be mentioned, but I'd be interested in your views.

I personally don't think keepers are better now, I actually feel that other than a few exceptions goalkeepers are not as good as they used to be

The job of being a goalkeeper has become more difficult due to the backpass law. Are they any better? I don't think so. If your looking at a top 5 list of all time I wouldn't put anyone who's come after Schemeichel.

I think a lot of today's keepers are vastly overated. I tend to put them in two categories.

Brilliant shot stoppers but liable to some spectacular errors.
Reina massively so. A liability on crosses but superb on pens so everyone considers him a world beater

Consitently safe never let you down but won't pull off the spectacular
Van Der Saar.
He's got better with age rock solid but won't save some that others in above category would. E.G Messi strike in final

Top 5 ever
1. Banks
2. Yassin
3. Schemechiel
4. Shilton
5. Clemence

The best of the last 10 years have been Buffon & Khan